Story of Kizilyurt girl stresses importance making violence cases public

Families are afraid of releasing information about violence, while victims are often subjected to relatives’ pressure instead of receiving their help from, human rights defenders have noted in their comments on the chaining of a girl in Kizilyurt.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that a criminal case on illegal freedom deprivation was opened in Kizilyurt after the release of a 15-year-old girl, whom her relatives chained to a heat radiator for educational purposes. According to one version, the girl left home more than once, and according to another, she told her relatives about the rape.

It is good that the police has called the incident with the girl in Kizilyurt a crime, Svetlana Anokhina, a human rights defender, has noted. According to her story, everything worked out this way precisely because the girl had managed to attracted strangers’ attention.

It is quite difficult to get the police to take action if a person is kept locked up by relatives, Ms Anokhina has emphasized.

Also, in her opinion, complainants have very negative experiences when it comes to sexualized violence. In particularly severe cases, the girl is married to the rapist, "with whom the most terrible and humiliating memories of her life are associated, for reasons of saving her good name."

Saida Sirazhudinova, President of the Centre for Studying Global Issues of Modernity and Regional Problems "Caucasus. World. Development", has noted that most families prefer to hide cases of violence and are even ready to kill the victim so that no one talks about it.

Katerina Neroznikova, the coordinator of the “Marem” movement, has noted that victims of violence have to convince others that they had done nothing wrong.

"In Northern Caucasus ... it is by the woman’s behaviour that they will judge not only her, but also her entire family. And it often happens that this is a problem for relatives, a sort of a stain on their reputation," Ms Neroznikova has explained.

At the same time, in her opinion, this is not a fatal situation, and often relatives help the girl.

"Girls themselves are often afraid and refuse to seek help, because they observe public condemnation ... Parents and relatives can be angry with their daughters, but still they help them," Katerina Neroznikova has concluded.